Remodeling Continues - The first-level apartment has seen better days and our stays with friends elsewhere convinced us that we should spruce it up - anticipating the many (?) visitors who would be eager to experience life in the Northland.  Also we have the thought of providing lodging for tourists during the summer.   So out came the crowbars, hammers, and other tools of destruction, (change that to 'demolition') and we were off.  Within a few days we had some lumber in place as we tried to modernize the kitchenette in the 'guest quarters'.

Moose on the Loose - For our first couple of months in Homer we only saw a few droppings, but as the snow started to pile up they migrated down from the mountains and now they arrived more frequently.  One pair arrived from the rear as a Fedex truck arrived from the front - the driver was very casual about it, but we were excited and rushed to get the cameras.

Moose in deep snow	Moose around our Geo Tracker	Moose arrives with Fedex

Shopping trips to Soldotna & Anchorage - Homer, being a small town of 5000 or so, has very limited shopping, so when we need to do heavy duty buying, its either a 70 mile trip to Soldotna/Kenai or the 250 miles to Anchorage.  The only redeeming value of Soldotna is Home Depot, a small Sears, and Fred Meyer but Anchorage has many of the national chains plus furniture stores and even clothing stores.  We find we go every couple of months - and the views along the route are spectacular.

Medical trip to Anchorage - One reason for this month's trip to Anchorage was for a medical check for Judi - all results were good and the car ended up loaded down with 'goodies' for the return trip.

Wildlife in Homer - Besides moose, the area is reputed to have wolves and bears, although we have not seen any yet.  Bald eagles are in good supply and a recent trip to the landfill gave us a good opportunity to photograph one sharing a snow-covered tree with a magpie.

Police Beat (Homer Police do good work but the public does their best to make it interesting):

• Jan 2 - A man at 8:40 p.m. reported that an elderly woman in a wheelchair was in the left turn lane of the highway. Police advised her to stay out of the road.

Faizel Reports - They laugh and rush to get the cameras when a moose visits, but it is up to me to repel them. Like take the evening when my handler took me out for my nightly pee - as soon as I came out of the door I came face-to-face with a moose, on MY porch!  Well, I let him know what I thought of that real quick and he scampered - about 5 feet.  Then he had the nerve to duck under the motor-home and sneak a few bites of grass that wasn't covered in snow before he wandered off.  Now we exit the house a little more slowly at night in case a moose is getting a taste of the salt we spread around for traction.